


Got a Crush On a Pretty Pistol

by dev0n



Series: The Devil With the Black Dress On [2]
Category: Daredevil (Comics), Daredevil (TV), The Defenders (Marvel TV), The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Earth-1045, F/M, Fluff, Identity Reveal, MtF!Matt Murdock, Post-Season/Series 02, Trans Female Character, Trans!Matt Murdock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-09 23:38:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12286629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dev0n/pseuds/dev0n
Summary: "You're not going to be very happy with me -- Frank, quit pouting and look at me."Frank's head jerks up, and he opens his mouth with some bitter, embarrassed retort. But before he gets out any words, Mattie starts to pull off her mask. Her own heartbeat is like a drum in her chest; she's too far in now to take this back, and Frank deserves answers. He's more than earned them. She sets down the mask and pulls down the cowl, pushing her bangs out of her face."... Surprise," Mattie says weakly.





	Got a Crush On a Pretty Pistol

**Author's Note:**

> Yay, more Mattie! Also more fratt! Also more fluff! Characterization might be off but idc, I wanted to write fluffy happy things. Mattie's transness doesn't really come up in this one. Unbeta'd, probably poorly proofread, blah blah blah.
> 
> Title from The Love Song by Marilyn Manson.

"So what's your deal, Red?"

Mattie turns her head toward Frank and tilts it, raising her eyebrows questioningly. Only -- right. The mask. (The irony in being unable to relay certain visual cues is not lost on her.) Frank's not looking at her, anyway, so she says, "You're going to have to be more specific, Frank."

He shrugs, taking a drink from his thermos and then wordlessly offering it out to her. Mattie knows she's going to leave lipstick on it, but she also knows Frank is expecting her to reject the offer -- so she takes it, lips twitching up at the corners when she hears just the slightest uptick in his heartbeat as their fingers touch. He's watching her, she realizes, as she tilts back her head to take a drink. To Mattie's surprise, it's actually good coffee.

"Thank you," she murmurs, handing the thermos back over. She feels Frank look down, raise a hand as if to wipe away the lipstick mark, then -- leave it? Before screwing the cap back onto the thermos. Mattie waits patiently, keeping an ear out for any trouble on the streets below. She knows she doesn't need to prompt him again; sometimes he does that, just takes a few minutes to gather his thoughts, or work up the nerve to say whatever it is he's going to say, or something. Mattie never claimed to know how Frank Castle's brain works.

"What's your _deal_ , huh? Your -- your tragic backstory, or whatever." Frank makes a noise that could almost be a chuckle, were it not darker and bitterer than the coffee in his hands. "How'd you end up here? How can you hear and see and smell shit the way you do? Are you a mutant? Are--"

"Frank." Mattie's struggling not to smile again. Clearly, he's been bursting with these questions for months. She can't blame him, really. Put in his position, she'd be driven mad wondering the same things. Mattie had been afraid that he'd seen her face that night on the roof when Elektra died, but clearly, he hadn't.

"You know damn near everything about me, Red. My whole life, my past. I don't even know your first name. Your first _initial._ "

"That's kind of the point of the mask," Mattie replies, and she feels him bristle in response, start to close off again. Shit. That wasn't what she'd wanted. He's right, though; she knows so much about him, and he knows nothing about her.

Funnily enough, Mattie would trust Frank Castle with her life. She has, in fact; he's saved her ass as many times as she's saved his. They've almost become partners, forming some sort of bizarre compromise between their respective moral codes every time they work together. Mattie would even go so far as to say she _likes_ him. She -- God forbid -- almost _cares_ about him. And she's fairly certain he feels the same, at least to some degree.

Mattie thinks the only other person Frank feels any sort of attachment like this to is Karen Page. She can relate.

"Frank," Mattie repeats, voice softer. He makes a noise somewhere between a huff of annoyance and a hum of acknowledgment. "You're not going to be very happy with me -- Frank, quit pouting and look at me."

Frank's head jerks up, and he opens his mouth with some bitter, embarrassed retort. But before he gets out any words, Mattie starts to pull off her mask. Her own heartbeat is like a drum in her chest; she's too far in now to take this back, and Frank deserves answers. He's more than earned them. She sets down the mask and pulls down the cowl, pushing her bangs out of her face.

"... Surprise," Mattie says weakly. Frank is clearly rattled, but he doesn't say anything, just stares. She feels his gaze on her face, and an unwilling flush starts to spread across her cheeks. "Will you say something?"

"You," is all Frank manages.

Mattie allows herself a small smile, this time. "Me," she agrees.

"You're blind."

"Yes." Before Frank can even take in another breath to form his next words, Mattie interrupts him. "Chemical spill when I was nine, blinded me but enhanced my other senses, a blind old man with enhanced senses found me and trained me how to fight." She pauses. "For a couple years, anyway. When he left, I continued training myself."

"Wait, blind old -- that Stick asshole?"

Mattie laughs, tipping her head back and up toward the sky. She and Frank have run into him once or twice while trying to eliminate the Hand. "Yeah. That Stick asshole."

Frank is still staring at her. She turns her head back toward him. "What?"

"It's just..." Frank shakes his head in disbelief. "I was wonderin' why you and Nelson came to represent me. Madeline fuckin' Murdock. Christ." Finally, he looks away, follows her blank gaze up to the sky. "It's, uh... It's cloudy. Not one'a those clear nights where you can see a star or two," Frank tells her awkwardly.

Mattie appreciates it immensely. It makes more blood rise to her cheeks. She feels naked without the mask, so she pulls up her cowl again, tucking in the strands of hair that attempt to escape. As she reaches for her mask, though, so does Frank.

"Did I ever..." Frank clears his throat. Mattie lets him lift the mask. She feels him trace his finger across the forehead of it, and suddenly, she knows what he's going to say. "Did I ever apologize for shootin' you in the head?"

Mattie smiles wryly again. "Nope," she says, and tries to take the mask from him, but he holds it out of reach. She huffs, but the sound is admittedly more amused than annoyed. "Frank. Give it back."

"Make me," Frank says in response, a small but unmistakably impish smirk tugging at his lips. Mattie can barely recognize facial expressions, but she's looking for them this time, so it's easier.

"You're being a _child_ ," Mattie replies, but she lunges for the mask again anyway. Frank switches it to the other hand, clicking his tongue at her.

"Gotta be quicker'n that, Red," he says, and his smug grin is audible. Mattie isn't sure where this sudden playfulness came from, but she's never heard Frank like this. The happiness of a man so accustomed to anger and bitterness is contagious.

"I'm going to _kill_ you, Frank Castle," Mattie grumbles. "Are you really trying to play keep-away with me?"

"Yep," Frank says cheerfully.

And it does, indeed, become a game of keep-away. They don't move off of the rooftop they've been sitting on, but Mattie does make it a little harder for Frank when she starts to add kicks and punches into the mix. Frank tries to block them without losing his grip on the mask, and they're both breathless from exertion and laughter within about five minutes.

The game ends abruptly when Mattie leaps from the top of an electrical box and knocks Frank onto his back, sitting on his hips and pinning his empty hand by the wrist. At some point, Mattie's cowl slipped back down, and the bun her hair was up in came undone; her hair falls around her face as she grins triumphantly down at Frank.

"Mask, please," she says imperiously. This time when she reaches for it, Frank lets her have it, but he stops her before she can start to put it back on. Mattie sighs, tilting her head down at Frank.

"What if I like seein' Madeline Murdock better than I like seein' Daredevil?" Frank asks softly. There's still that hint of playfulness in his voice, but there's a more serious overtone. Mattie swallows, and it's only then that she notices the suggestive position they're still in. She lets go of Frank's wrist quickly, but before she can scramble to get off of him, he sits up. Slowly, Frank raises a hand to trace along her jaw, all the way back into her hair.

"Frank," Mattie hedges. Frank leans in to rest their foreheads together.

"If you don't want," Frank starts, but Mattie cuts him off by wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him.

Frank makes a surprised noise against her lips, free hand wrapping around Mattie's waist. They kiss until they're breathless again, and when they pull back, Mattie feels Frank's eyes boring into her own sightless ones. She pulls off one of her gloves and traces her fingers along his jaw, feels the stubble there. They're both quiet for a few moments, just sitting there, Mattie still straddling Frank's lap.

"And if Daredevil is just as much a part of me as Madeline Murdock is?" She asks quietly, quirking her head a little to the left.

"I never said I preferred one over the other," Frank scoffs. He must feel something on his face then, because he reaches up to rub it away. He squints at it for a moment.

"I... Honest to God can't tell if this is blood or lipstick."


End file.
